Trump’s Tariffs Could Dampen Investment Spurred by the Tax Cuts

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A new Philadelphia Fed survey highlighted by MarketWatch’s Steve Goldstein suggests that some manufacturing businesses see the President Trump’s tax and tariff policies as working at cross purposes.

In its Manufacturing Business Outlook Survey for October, the Philadelphia Fed asked manufacturers how the tax cuts and tariff increases were affecting their capital spending plans for 2019. Firms reported that the tax cuts were a net positive, with about 40 percent of respondents saying that “tax relief” has increased their plans to invest.

The tariffs, however, were a net negative, though by a smaller margin, with more firms saying that tariffs have decreased rather than increased their spending plans.

It’s worth noting that on both issues, the majority of respondents said that the policies were having no effect on their plans.